Seongmin Ahn has developed a unique visual language from the techniques of Minhwa (Korean Folk Painting) to the context of contemporary art with her own interpretation. In a series of works entitled Evolutionary Impulse (2018-2019), she conveys highly imaginative explorations into what we might call hyper-dimensional thinking. The central elements of the series reveal images of Asian-style mountains, Western teacups, and oversized noodles. Noodles descend vertically as a waterfall converted into an image of water that flows out of the teacup. Noodles are originated in East Asia and spread to the West. They are eventually accepted today as a worldwide staple, extending the two hemispheres. In these works, the sophisticated technique and the exaggerated image of noodles become a metaphor for expanding the artist herself to find her way of connecting, living and thriving in the United States.
Seongmin Ahn is a Korean-born artist living and working in New York. She received her BFA and MFA in Asian traditional painting from Seoul National University and a second MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art. She is a two-time recipient of a Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant and a first prize winner from the AHL Foundation Competition. Ahn held numerous exhibitions, nationally and internationally, including solo shows at Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts (Wilmington, DE); Korean Gallery at Korean Cultural Service in New York (Manhattan, NY); Queens College Art Center (Flushing, NY). She also participated in and contributed to significant projects such as Power and Pleasure of Possessions in Korean Painted Screens (Wang Center, Stony Brook University), Garden (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea), and Hanji Project: Hanji Metamorphoses (curated by Yu-Yeon Kim over numerous locations in Chelsea). Recently Ahn’s work AGAIN (2020-21) is ongoing multi-site, multi-media public art series involving murals, floor pieces, signage, paintings, and prints in New York City.